Well, actually you can. Safe performance was what I wanted for my truck. After talking to Matt from LIPD a few times, we figured out what was most important to me in a tuner and I settled on the livewire, cue to not having gauges already in the truck. One thing to keep in mind, the tuning strategy has changed tremendiously in the last few years. Initially the predator was using 22 degrees of injector timing. (Many people loved the performance they had over the SCMT, however more times than not they were the worst leakers) Matt is making way better numbers running a max of 11. Sometimes it takes time to figure these things out. The beauty of the SCT, be it the Xcal, or the livewire (just made an initial run with the generic perfomance file WOW) is the capability to tune exactly the way you want, over the computer. With the others you are semi stuck with what they give you, they do release updated versions for download, but every truck is different. The tunes that work best are usually different as well. Every aspect of the engine and trans tune are endlessly configureble. Like Tim said (nncpartsman) feel free to give Matt a call and answer some of your questions. LIPD will treat you right and give great customer service. They are also regular members of the site.

 

Thanks for the input mrxlh. Now, someone mentioned earlier that the 03 probably isn't the best choice. From the research I've done so far, it seems like the 03 has the better turbo and stronger rods - what's not to like? Also, from my buddies at the Ford dealerships, I've been told that the main culprits for head gasket failure are the 04 models. Which is really the better choice?

 

If you look into an 03 look for one that has upgraded to the latest turbo as they are not supposed to lock up. Also the first injectors had some problems but in my opinion the early 03's are by far the fastest of all the 6.0's in the stock form....

 

The 03/04 are just a little harder to tune. (not harder, take more time and playing with it) Enorma, the 03 IS the most powerful in stock trim. This has been talksed about tremendiously by the tuner mfgs when we had stickys for the first 2 available. THe worst thing you would have to do is upgrade the headgaskets. While a tad costly, you will never fool with it again.

 

mrxlh: Yeah I agree. Some will disagree but those of us that had a 03 early on really had something special until the reflashes started. I traded mine in with 35,000 miles to get my 06. I had turbo issues from it sitting for days without driving it. Other than that it ran like a scalded dog. I also had the Edge module on it.

 

i agree..i love my 03!!! the tuner is nice to but lately been runnin' w/out the box and still can pull away from my buddy's '06....and the sound of them is hands down the best....sounds like an F101 in the test cell here at work...

 

I didn't know the 03 had stronger rods. That's nice to know since 90% of my miles are towing. What makes them stronger than the newer models?

 

On Elite's website they talk about the 03s having a different forging process so they are stronger than the 04-07 rods.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, it is greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I just went back to Elite's website and can't find the rod info? Must have been some other site.

 

All 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 6.0's use the exact same connecting rod with the exact same part number. I think you might be confusing this with the Forged vs. PMR's in the 7.3.

 

You could be right - I've seen so many things while researching I'm starting to lose my mind.